Kinmen records new high in ferry passenger numbers for July

Taipei, The number of ferry passengers traveling between Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Island and China's Fujian Province set a new monthly high of 170,893 in July, according to the Kinmen County government.

Citing statistics compiled by the National Immigration Agency, the Kinmen authorities said the record high number of arrivals and departures was 22,985 higher than the figure posted a year ago, representing a year-on-year growth of 15.5 percent.

A total of 32,463 Chinese visitors entered Kinmen from China via the ferry services in July, marking an annual increase of 14.8 percent compared with the 28,275 arrivals registered in the same month of the previous year, the Kinmen authorities said.

During the first seven months of this year, a total of 1,052,257 visitors entered and left Kinmen using the ferry services, up 6.1 percent from the year-earlier level of 991,540.

In the January-July period, 207,584 Chinese visitors landed on Kinmen, reflecting an 11.9 percent growth over the year-earlier level of 185,458.

The county's Recreation and Tourism Department attributed the growth in inbound and outbound travelers on the designated ferry routes to a series of summer activities hosted by the county government, such as the 2018 Quemoy International Music Festival and the annual Open Water Swimming Competition between Kinmen and Xiamen, which are popular among young adults and sports aficionados.

In addition, the department said that family tours between Kinmen and Xiamen and summer camps on Kinmen for Chinese students have also helped boost ferry travel between the two sides.

In the second half of this year, Kinmen will continue to host a series of events for teenagers from Kinmen and Xiamen with the aim of creating a role model for cross-Taiwan Strait tourism, said tourism department head Chen Mei-ling (???).